The Logical Blog by IconLogic

RoboHelp 7: Toolbars Not Meeting Your Needs? Create Your Own

There are several toolbars in RoboHelp, each with several tools. You will likely discover that some of those tools aren't where you'd like them. For instance, there are a few tools that make the process of creating links a snap. Instead of searching multiple toolbars or menus, you can create a new toolbar and add the link commands to it.

Create a New Toolbar

1. Display the Customize dialog box by choosing View > Toolbars > Customize
2. On the Toolbars tab, click the New button

The New Toolbar dialog box appears.

3. Type Linking Tools into the Toolbar name field
   
   
4. Click OK
   
   Your new toolbar appears in the list of Toolbars.
   
   
   
   Keep the Customize dialog box open for the next step.

Add Commands to a Toolbar

1. The Customize dialog box (View > Toolbars > Customize) should be open and a new toolbar called Linking Tools should be in the list of Toolbars
2. Select the Commands tab
3. Scroll down the list of Categories and select the Insert category
4. From the list of Commands at the right, drag the Hyperlink/Popup command over to your new Linking Tools toolbar
   
   The only difficult part of this step is knowing where your Linking Tools toolbar is in your window. The new Linking Tools toolbar is probably the smallest toolbar since there are no tools currently on the toolbar. In the picture below, the toolbar is hiding at the far left of the window.
   
   
   
   The Insert Hyperlink or Edit Selected Hyperlink tool should now appear on the Linking Tools toolbar.
5. Ensure the Insert category is still selected
6. From the list of Commands at the right, drag Text-only Popup over to the Linking Tools toolbar
   
   The Linking Tools toolbar should look like the screen capture below (the tool on the left is the Insert Hyperlink or Edit Selected Hyperlink tool):
   
   
   
   You could continue in this fashion, adding commands to your new toolbar as you see fit.
7. Click the Close button.

Click here to learn more about Adobe RoboHelp 7.

Grammar Workshop: In Search of the Dangling Participle

by Jennie Ruby

Note: In the examples below, asterisks indicate a grammatically incorrect sentence.

One of the most well-known, but not understood, grammar errors is the dangling participle. Because its name is unusual to the point of amusement, many students remember hearing it in some long-ago English class. But those same students may not remember how to recognize and then correct this pernicious error. First we need to know: what is a participle? Then we will look into how it can "dangle."

A participle is a verb form. There are two kinds: past participles and present participles. Present participles are easy to recognize because they end with -ing. Past participles mostly end with -ed, but sometimes end with -en or -n or -t. Here are some examples:   Present participles:

• walking
• driving
• editing
• prevaricating

Past participles:

• packed
• aligned
• written
• thrown
• built

These verb forms can actually be the verb in a sentence, as in "I am walking to the library," where walking is the action. But at other times participles can be used as adjectives, as in "I often use a walking stick," where walking is describing the noun stick. Participles used as adjectives are the ones that can "dangle," when the noun (or pronoun) they are describing is not in the sentence--or not in the correct form. Here is an example where the participle is dangling because the word it is describing is not in the sentence:

*Walking over the rough ground, balance was difficult.*

The word walking is describing something or someone. Who? We don't know, because there is no person or thing in the sentence who could be described as walking. The word being described should be right after the comma at the end of the participial phrase "walking over the rough ground." Here is a correct use of a participle at the beginning of a sentence:

Walking over the rough ground, I found it hard to keep my balance.

Now it is clear that the participle is describing the pronoun I, which appears right after the comma. Next let's look at an example where the word being described is not in the right form:

*Walking over the rough ground, my backpack strap broke.*

Here, the first word after the comma does refer to a person who could be described as walking, but not in the correct form. My or me cannot be used here. The pronoun has to be I, the subject form of the pronoun. The same thing is true of nouns: if a noun is in this location, it must be the subject of the remainder of the sentence. It cannot be a possessive form such as stick's or Carol's. Here is a correct sentence:   Walking over the rough ground, I broke my backpack strap.

Now that you can recognize a dangling participle, you can make sure the noun it is describing is in the right location, right after the comma.   

---

About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Essentials of Access 2000" and "Editing with MS Word 2003 and Adobe Acrobat 7" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.

Want help with a grammar issue? Email us your troubles and we'll turn Jennie loose!

Adobe Captivate 3: Get Your Hotspots into Shape

You have always been able to create Click Boxes in Captivate that essentially allow you to "hot spot" an area of your slide. If users click the "hot spot," you can jump the user to another slide in your project (also known as branching), continue the project, execute a JavaScript or jump the user to a Web site.

What you could NOT do was create an irregularly-shaped Click Box that would for instance, allow you to follow the contours of your logo or someone's face. All you could do was create Click Boxes that were rectangles or squares. Bummer! But wait: with Captivate 3, there is a way--Rollover Slidelets!   Rollover Slidelets are basically mini-slides within a slide. Similar to Rollover Captions and Images, Slidelets only appear when the user moves the mouse over a specified area on the slide. Unlike Rollover Captions (which can only contain text) and Rollover Images (which can only contain images), Slidelets can contain images, text, audio, and video. In addition, you can attach navigation controls to a Slidelet, just like a Click Box.   But here is where things get interesting... it is possible to create a custom shape out of the Rollover Slidelet. In short, no more boring rectangles or squares. Interested? Read on...  

Insert a Rollover Slidelet

1. Open or create a project
2. Choose Insert > Rollover Slidelet
   
   The New Slidelet dialog box appears.
3. Click OK to accept the initial defaults
   
   Two things appear on the slide: the Rollover Slidelet and the Slidelet. While the two objects look similar, the Rollover Slidelet will serve as the hot spot. The Slidelet is what will appear should the user move the mouse over the Rollover Slidelet. Although the Rollover Slidelet contains the words "Rollover Slidelet," that identifier will go away if you make the Rollover Slidelet smaller. In that case, use your mouse to point at either object and you will see a tooltip that will help you identify which object is which.
   
   

Reshape the Rollover Slidelet   

1. With the Rollover Slidelet selected, press [Ctrl] [Alt] [W] on your keyboard (you can also right-click the Rollover Slidelet and choose Redraw Shape)
   
   Your mouse pointer becomes a cross indicating that you can draw a shape.
2. Click to create a starting point for your custom shape
3. Continue clicking around the shape you want to "hot spot"
   
   
4. When finished with the custom shape, double-click to close the "hot spot"
   
   
   
   And that's it! You would now proceed to resize the Slidelet and add assets to it (such as images, Text Captions, animation--just about anything you like).

Got a Captivate production problem that's making you pull your hair out? Email your problem and let others learn solutions from your experience.   Want to learn more about Captivate? Click here.

RoboHelp 7: Tips for Importing Content into RoboHelp

You can import several types of document into a RoboHelp project including HTML files, Microsoft Word documents, Adobe FrameMaker documents, PDFs and XML files.

Here are a few guidelines when importing HTML files, Word documents and FrameMaker documents:

Word Files

While you can import documents created with most versions of Microsoft Word, Word version 2000 or newer will import better than older versions (RoboHelp 7 allows you to import Word 2007 files). Your version of Word must be equipped with the Microsoft filter for Internet extensions (Word 95 does not include this filter, but it can be downloaded from www.microsoft.com. Word 97 includes the filter on its installation CD). Word 2000 and later includes the filter as part of the standard installation.

If you have already created a TOC, headers, footers or index in Word, they will import nicely into RoboHelp.

FrameMaker Files

You can import Adobe FrameMaker 8 documents (FM, MIF, and BOOK) to a RoboHelp project. FrameMaker files are listed as source documents in the Project Manager pod.
When you import FrameMaker documents, you can elect to convert the Table of Contents, Index, Glossary and other settings into RoboHelp counterparts.

Tags and Styles

Use standard HTML tags in the HTML files and styles for FrameMaker and Word documents. When you import the documents, the proper use of tags (or style sheets) allows RoboHelp to format the documents into topics.

White Space

Don't use extra carriage returns between paragraphs for white space. Instead, use only one carriage return per paragraph. You will soon learn that RoboHelp has built-in paragraph formats that do a better job of paragraph spacing.

Click here to learn more about Adobe RoboHelp 7.

Writing Workshop: Noon, Midnight

by Quinn McDonald

When I left the voicemail that said "Please call me at noon" there wasn't a problem, but when I used the dropbox on the customer service website for a problem I was having, I checked "12 p.m." The question was "Pick a time you will be at the number you gave us--we will call anytime within two hours of the start time." Noon to 2 p.m. sounded like a good choice.

When my phone rang at midnight, I had forgotten about the drop-down box. Sure enough, it was a customer-service representative, outsourced to a more convenient time location. Hearing my sleepy voice, he said, "I wondered why you wanted a call at midnight."

"Noon. I picked noon." I said.

"Oh, no, madam, 12 p.m. is midnight."

"Ummm, no. Actually the PM stands for 'post meridian,' which means, after the sun crosses the meridian, or highest part in the sky. That's noon, so PM is after noon. AM is 'ante meridian' and it means before the sun crosses the highest point-- noon."
"No, 12 pm is midnight. It is surely after noon when it is dark."
I dropped the issue and got on with my customer service problem, which he handily solved.

The next day, I wondered why the time issue had even come up. A little research showed me the reason--most of the rest of the world uses a 24-hour clock, like the military. A surprisingly few number of nations use the "am/pm" designation.

In most of the rest of the world, after noon, the numbers add onto 12--so 1 pm is 1300 hours, 2:30 pm is 1430, and so on. Midnight is 0000 or 2400, depending on the country. The morning hours are written with four digits--6 am is 0600.

In Swedish (though in Sweden the 12-hour clock is nowadays rarely used) am and pm they are "fm" and "em". Greece uses letter combinations, but like most other languages, formal abbreviations for "before noon" and "after noon" is left for verbal or informal communication.

Who knew? It never occurred to me that the Latin designations weren't universal. But for those drop-down boxes, I'm going to choose times that lend themselves to fewer mistakes.

---

About the Author: Quinn McDonald is a writer, certified creativity coach and trainer in business communications. See more of her work at Quinncreative.wordpress.com

"Adobe Captivate 3: Script Writing and Production Guide" Now Shipping

About The Book:

I've been teaching Captivate for years. At the end of a two-day class, my students have all the skills they need to create highly interactive computer-based training simulations (CBTs) using Captivate.

Some time ago a student, just prior to leaving class the last day, asked how she could focus her writing skills and create clean, step-by-step documentation she could use for her Captivate storyboards. She said she had searched and searched and could not find a class designed specifically for creating step-by-step documentation.

I had another student ask me if I had a style guide he could "borrow" so that he could create a corporate style guide to be used for all of their Captivate CBTs. Based on those conversations, I created this book. Part 1 of the book is designed to focus your writing skills and help you create concise step-by-step documentation. Part 2 of this book is the Style Guide and Process document I created for use at IconLogic.

Here is what is covered in the book:

Part 1: Script Writing

The Process | Ignorance Is Not a Dirty Word | The Audience | The Subject Matter Expert (SME) | Find and Promote the "Wow" Factor | Rules for Writing and Tools of the Trade | Hard-News Writing | Feature Writing | Technical and Script Writing | Avoid Plagiarism | Writing Style Guides | So Many Guides, So Little Time

Grammar Workshop

Comma Inside or Comma Outside the Quotation Mark? | Less is More, But is Fewer Very Much? | Led/Lead/Leading/Leading | When We Join Things, Are They Always Plural? | Commas Between Adjectives | Hyphens

Writing Workshop

Active vs. Passive Voice | Death to Deadwood | Writing Concisely | Writing Narratives | Writing Step-By-Step Procedures | Sample Script

---

Part 2: Production & Style Guide

The CBT Development Process

Adobe Captivate 3 Preferences | Global Settings | Recording Settings | Full Motion Recording Settings | Recording Keys Settings | Custom Recording Mode Settings | Display Settings | Screen Resolution | Desktop Wallpaper and Icons | Windows XP Display Properties | Windows Vista Personalized Settings | The Recording Phase | Download the Template | Record a Project Using a Template

Production Phase

Version Control | Project Settings | The Cleanup Process | Slide Properties | Text Captions | Buttons | Click Boxes | Text Entry Boxes | Audio/Narration | Publishing Audio Scripts | Importing Narration Files | Pre-Publish Settings | Project Start and End | Project Background Audio | Project Skin | Project Info | Publishing Projects | Publishing for an LMS | Publishing for a Web Server

RoboHelp 7: Control Your Environment

If you share your computer with other team members, you will appreciate the ability to create multiple work environments within RoboHelp 7. For instance, if you find yourself working on the Project Manager and Toolbox pods most of the day, you can create an Environment where those specific pods always appears in an exact location within the RoboHelp 7 window and grouped with toolbars you use frequently.

Load the Default Environment

1. Choose File > Load Default Environment



The RoboHelp window looks the way it did the day RoboHelp was first installed on your computer.

Save an Environment

1. Drag the Project Manager pod to the middle of the RoboHelp window
2. Choose View > Pods > Toolbox to display the Toolbox pod
3. Drag the Toolbox pod to the middle of the RoboHelp window
4. Position the Project Manager and Toolbox pods until your RoboHelp window looks similar to the picture below
   
   
5. Close all of the other pods
6. Choose File > Save Environment
   
   The Save As dialog box appears.
7. Change the File name to ProjectManager_Toolbox and then click Save
   
   
   
   The environment has been saved with an FHS extension. You can load the environment into any RoboHelp 7 project.

Load Environments

1. Choose File > Load Default Environment
   
   The RoboHelp screen returns to its default appearance.
2. Choose File > Load Environment
   
   The Open dialog box appears.
3. Open the ProjectManager_Toolbox Environment you created a moment ago
   
   Both the Project Manager and Toolbox Pods should reappear in the exact location specified when you created the Environment.
4. Choose File > Load Default Environment
   
   The RoboHelp window returns to its default appearance.

Click here to learn more about Adobe RoboHelp 7.

Questions of the Week

Question: Captivate vs. SnagIt and FullShot

You mention on page 19 of your Captivate 3 book that you use third-party screen capture programs (SnagIt and FullShot) for backgrounds, whereas most people "elect to use Captivate to create the screen captures."  You don't really elaborate on this.  Would you mind me asking why it is that you don't just use Captivate?

Answer:

SnagIt and FullShot both include intense graphic tools to augment screen captures created with those applications (you can add callouts, shadows, arrows, etc.); Captivate does not have any drawing tools.

Both SnagIt and FullShot allow you to pull specific parts of the screen (such as a window, menu, button, dialog, screen, etc). Using SnagIt or FullShot you can elect to save your screen captures in various formats (BMP, JPG, etc). With Captivate, you are forced to capture everything within the red recording area on your screen. And the screen captures created in Captivate are intended to stay within Captivate (even though you can certainly copy and paste the backgrounds between applications).

Question: Captivate versus PowerPoint

Captivate seems to be a great alternative to PowerPoint for doing presentations.  In your experience, are there any circumstances where PowerPoint still has an advantage over Captivate?

Answer:

While you can create wonderful scenario-based projects with Captivate, I would say that most people who use Captivate use it to create interactive software simulations or demonstrations. While you could mange much of the same Captivate effects using PowerPoint, Captivate "just feels right" for creating software simulations where I feel like I'm trying to put a square peg into a round hole trying to use PowerPoint. However, PowerPoint does contain some wonderful animation effects you cannot get with Captivate (animated bullets, master slides, etc.) PowerPoint sports a ton of drawing tools and AutoShapes. If you are creating a soft-skills presentation and do not intend to include quizzes, do not need SCORM compliance and do not intend to upload to an LMS, I would advise you to create that kind of project in PowerPoint and leave software simulations to Captivate.

Got a Question You'd Like Answered? Email me.

Adobe Captivate 3: One Hot Question Slide...

Captivate has always allowed you to insert question slides. However, Captivate 3 introduced a slick new type--Hot Spots-- where you invite users to select the correct area of an image. Before learning how to create Hot Spot questions, it might be helpful if you see a sample of a Hot Spot question in action. Click here to watch a quick sample. After watching the sample, return here for the lesson.

Insert a Hot Spot Question Slide

1. Open or create a new Captivate 3 project
2. Choose Quiz > Question Slide
3. Select Hot Spot from the list of Question Types
4. Select either Graded Question or Survey Question and then click OK
   



5. In the sample you previewed via the link above, I typed Hot Spot Questions Are Cool in the Name field and then typed the question as shown below into the Question field. Since this was just a single slide quiz and it was not reporting the score, I set the point to 0. In addition, since only one of the three logos shown in the sample was correct, I set the Hot Spots to 1
   



6. Next I selected an animation to be used as the Hot Spot by clicking the Select button and opening a SWF file I liked (I was pleasantly surprised by the number of SWFs that were available in the HotSpots folder).





7. On the Options tab, I set the Action to Go to next slide and I selected Infinite attempts from the If wrong answer area





8. Finally, I organized/positioned the slide objects to taste. While the image below may be a bit small, you should still be able to make out the Hot Spot area that I positioned over logo 2. Also notice that I positioned the Try again and Correct captions on top of each other.
   
   

---

Got a production problem that's making you pull your hair out. Email your problem and let others learn solutions from your experience.

Want to learn more about Captivate? Click here.

RoboHelp 7: Peas in a Pod!

The New RoboHelp's Gotten a Major Face Lift

This is not your father's RoboHelp. If you're a veteran RoboHelp user, prepare yourself... the new RoboHelp looks nothing like the old RoboHelp.

Upon starting RoboHelp 7, one of the first things you'll notice is the pods--panes--that can float anywhere in the application window.

Here's a list of the RoboHelp 7 Pods:

• Project Manager
• Table of Contents
• Index
• Glossary
• Conditional Build Tags
• User Defined Variables
• Single Source Layouts
• Project Set-up
• Output View
• Toolbox
• Bug Hunter
• RoboHelp Server
• Link View
• Topic List
• File Status
• Starter

And here's a look at some of those pods:

The Project Pod

The Snippet Pod

You Know What They Say About First Impressions...

While I loved the simplicity of the old RoboHelp interface, it hadn't changed all that much for years and was much in need of a face-lift.

My first impression of the new RoboHelp 7 was... WOW! I was shocked--in a good way--by how different the interface was from Adobe RoboHelp 6, which wasn't released all that long ago.

As I played with the features in RoboHelp 7 (I'll be writing about all the cool new stuff right here in the coming weeks), my first favorite new feature, besides the pods mentioned above, is the fact that you can now open more than one topic at a time! Yeee hahh! Think I'm teasing you? Look at the screen capture below:

Two topics open at one time.

My next favorite thing in RoboHelp 7? The TrueCode pane is gone and has been replaced by an HTML Editor. Veteran RoboHelp users will be happy to see that the Kadov tags are gone!

A new HTML Editor.

Next week: RoboHelp 7's New Environments

Click here to learn more about Adobe RoboHelp 7.